Recent discussions among mental health professionals and researchers highlight the troubling impact of smartphone use on family dynamics and individual well-being. Gary Su, a clinical therapist, reveals that many of his young clients navigate complex lives largely influenced by their smartphone habits. He notes a significant increase in families seeking help due to issues related to phone addiction or problematic smartphone use.
Even with these concerns, officials have not officially declared harmful smartphone use an addiction. It is still missing from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This gap in recognition of the problem should raise alarm bells as to how serious a problem we may have.
Jay Olson, who led a comprehensive 2023 global study surveying over 50,000 individuals about their smartphone habits, emphasizes the need for more open discussions around this topic. Olson thinks the biggest challenge for the older generations is grasping the size of the problem. This problem has increased exponentially ever since the rise of smartphones in 2009.
“Normal smartphone use would become problematic when it starts negatively affecting your daily life and in different ways,” – Jay Olson
Su concurs with this sentiment, elaborating on a trend she calls “phubbing,” where phones, quite literally, snub our families and social lives. “I see a lot of family just come in because of phone addiction or problematic phone use,” he states. Su highlights the dangerous increase in cyberbullying, a behavior that smartphone overuse tends to inflate.
Anita Hagh’s personal experience highlights the challenges of navigating technology use. Ever since five years ago, when she deleted the Twitter app from her phone. Habitually, she instinctively still clicks on it. Looking back on her journey, Hagh says she confesses that she was likely a smartphone user herself or perhaps a phone addict, back on her hyperactive social media self.
“After deleting it, I was very much thinking it was still there, kind of like a phantom limb situation,” – Anita Hagh
On this point, both Su and Olson are aligned in their concerns over the compulsive addictive nature of smartphone usage today. Olson points out that a great many people describe waking up every morning with a sense of emergency about needing to grab their phones. Yet so often people will describe this compulsion,” he says, underscoring how hardwired these new behaviors have gotten.
While the national conversation about smartphone use as a whole will take time to adapt, Olson recommends steps individuals can take to lessen its impact. He advocates for cellphone bans in schools across Canada as an initial step toward addressing the issue and insists that governments need to implement more comprehensive solutions. He suggests age controls be implemented on social media companies to prevent younger users from being exposed to harmful content and interactions.
“I feel for the parents. Most of us are not tech geniuses,” – Gary Su
Olson goes on to explain the effects of early exposure to smartphones, which is definitely worth a read. “Things seem to be a lot more volatile or more extreme. Kids are exposed to things just way too early for their age,” he remarks. The anonymous nature of online interactions complicates the situation, making it difficult for parents and guardians to monitor their children’s experiences effectively.
Hagh’s continued use of social media as a tool for research has forced her to bubblegum ball her way into tracking her own phone habits. This self-awareness is important as she delves into the dangers of technology over-dependence. This support goes a long way to empower her pursuit of balanced, healthier lifestyle.
